Is Nottingham going to be the new option school in Arlington or its still being decided?
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Anonymous
| Huh. Interesting. Didn’t realize Nottingham was so accessible. |
Anonymous
While I totally get why they are moving an option school —Key — I don’t see how that gets an option school at Nottingham. They can’t move Spanish immersion to Nottingham, aren’t going to move EL and Montessori is slated for Henry (for now). But how do you move ATS to Nottingham politically? |
Anonymous
They can’t do it without worsening the North/South disparity. It’s a terrible plan. |
Anonymous
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Snottingham parent here, ready for the flames about to be thrown my way. We'll very likely be a Tuckahoe family in the near future, regardless of how all of this option school stuff plays out. Apparently everyone there hates us as much there as they do here, so that should be fun.
FWIW, I think a lot of Nottingham parents are more concerned about buses and traffic to the school more than anything having to do with giving up their "lily white" status. There aren't a lot of big roads near the school, and only two buses fit in the driveway. People also seem to forget we had a parent killed out in front of the school not long ago. What they may not realize is that after that we asked the county for help with road markings and a light to assist at this already busy intersection; we were denied. Traffic will be a huge issue here, and it's something we are sensitive about...sorry. Many families I know would welcome a more diverse population at the school, mine included. But will an option school in this area actually make that happen? Overwhelmingly, the concerns I hear are: Where will the buses go? Won't this just mean other nearby schools will become overcrowded, too? And since they can't expand, what would this look like? Will any ED students actually want to ride a bus to Nottingham or another North Arlington school? Won't this change just mean our kids will have more access to an option school, while discouraging kids who live further away due to the distance? Seems this gives our community more access, and those in other areas of Arlington less access. The other questions I hear concern the entire process and why Nottingham ended up on the list in the first place. Why was it selected as a potential option school based on criteria that it never met at the start? Why were other schools looked over completely? Is it because we are seen as "screwing" over others before? Is it because we have no principal and are an easy target? Or is it just the usual crappy APS process where they don't actually use the data to make good decisions? It's clear APS projections and numbers are not accurate, based on their past processes and decisions. I think it's important and worthwhile for all schools to get involved in this process so we force APS to use the data they have to make better decisions. Why are kids leaving their neighborhood schools in the first place? I'm guessing they are opting into other schools to escape their neighborhood schools, not because they are so enamored with the option program. To me, this is a problem. We need to find a way to make these struggling neighborhood schools stronger, so people don't feel they have to leave them. It's clear we have an issue with capacity and will need to move boundaries. Everyone realizes that. How can we do this in a way that makes sense and supports all students? I know many people think drawing new boundaries will just be wonky and difficult, but it seems to me the most straightforward way to be fair to everyone. Sorry for the rambling. |
Anonymous
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You missed the memo, we’re not allowed to talk about our dead friend here. It makes other people uncomfortable because it means either having to acknowledge that there are very real safety concerns around Nottingam that the county steadfastly refuses to address, or having to say “who cares about your dead friend, she’s fungible.” But that’s okay, ATS kids are fungible too, right? If one of them dies in front of the school when a truck (or school bus, there will be 13 coming through twice a day to get their shot also) clips their minivan, that’s just good fortune for the next family on the waiting list.
Sorry, I know how uncomfortable it makes you all that I miss my friend and that I wouldn’t have to miss her if the county didn’t insist on maintaining such a dangerous stretch of road there. |
Anonymous
| How ‘bout Jamestown for an option school? Checks lots of boxes. |
Anonymous
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I think the best arguments always credit the concerns of the other person- and don't just dismiss them.
I'm not at all anti-Nottingham. I am somewhat anti everyone who relies on matching t'shirts, change.org petitions, and pushy parents to get there way. I really think the only school being considered for a move to Nottingham is ATS- so I am going to talk specifically about moving ATS. i also think the only reason the Staff is 'targeting' Nottingham is b/c they think they need to make either Tuckahoe, Nottingham, or Discovery an option school- so to some extent I am considering the argument as between those three schools. Diversity: I think this is an argument that has surface appeal, but is not really true. Right now ATS has 142 FARMS students. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FREE-REDUCED-OCTOBER-31-2017.pdf ATS has 34 VPI students. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mar-31-Membership-2017-18.pdf I'm guessing that a large number of the students (if not all) who are FARMS and are not currently in VPI, started as VPI students, and have now moved up grades- the math works out that way, especially when you account for the fact that ATS added a 2nd VPI class a few years ago. Getting into the VPI class at ATS is competitive- I know multiple people who scored high on the VPI admittance criteria and ranked ATS as their first choice, who did not get into VPI. So, will moving ATS from its current location to Nottingham reduce the people applying to VPI? Maybe- but probably not drastically. They are less than 3 miles apart. Would moving to to Tuckahoe or Discovery? Well both of those are slightly further than Nottingham, but not by much- so I don't think it makes much difference which of those schools are picked. Access to Public Transit: As outlined in another post above, I actually think this is another argument that has surface appeal but is not really true. The APS Go surveys showed nearly no students using public transit to get to school. That being said- Nottingham and Tuckahoe have a similar profile for access to public transit. They are both a few blocks off Lee Highway- which has a ton of buses. Tuckahoe has the benefit of being walkable to EFC metro. Discovery probably has the worst transit of the three. So if you credit this factor, maybe Tuckahoe looks a little better as an option- but I basically think this is not a relevant factor. Traffic: I think that any area of the county can legitimately argue it can't handle the traffic increase. Traffic is a huge issue everywhere. I think what we are really talking here is more buses- not more car riders. Would the additional buses be worse at Nottingham than at Tuckahoe or Discovery? I don't really have an opinion on that one. I think all three schools are on minor roads, but just off larger roads. |
Anonymous
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In terms of the argument- aren't just drawing boundaries (e.g. not moving option schools) the best argument.
I think the problems with that argument (and really what put a target on Nottingham's back) is looking at the map. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ESZones_Letter_2017_Revised2-1.pdf Start by noting that ASFS is the neighborhood school for Key, but it is not actually in the Key boundary. APS has said they are going to fix this by redrawing the boundary. Also note the 2021 projections which show ASFS at 640 students and Key at 881. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FallProjections18-27_Official_Web.pdf So you have got to figure out a way to draw some 300 students out of that boundary, while adding the surrounding planning units to ASFS. To do it they would have to basically take Rosslyn, Courthouse, all the area that is currently right around Key and move it to Taylor, then Cherrydale/Lyon Village would go to ASFS. Then they have to add a large portion of Taylor to Jamestown- which is almost certainly going to be turning walkers into busriders (which I think in the current APS climate is one of the 7 deadly sins). And you would keep on moving the boundaries sort of in a counterclockwise direction- but along the way you are turning walkers into busriders. If you want to look at the map a different way- start in the Nottingham neighborhood- and realize that a portion of what is currently zoned Nottingham is walkable to Discovery, a portion of walkable to Tuckahoe, and a portion is walkable to Reed. If you give all three of those schools full walk zones- Nottingham doesn't have nearly enough students (and you can't fill it with preschool b/c the seats are needed for elementary in the Northeast. |
Anonymous
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The only possible way out I see for Nottingham (or one of its near neighbors) not becoming option is if APS pursues the idea currently being floated to make Barcroft & Carlin Springs both immersion option schools. This would leave ATS in place, and make Key & Claremont both neighborhood schools.
If they do this- It would pull a significant amount of the Carlin Springs and Barcroft zones into Ashlawn. (Ashlawn will have space- but not enough b/c its tentacle boundary can go to ASFS) You then send a chunk of Ashlawn to McKinley- and the funky McKinley boundary to Reed. A lot of Tuckahoe that thinks they are going to be Reed walkers, would continue to be Tuckahoe busriders. |
Anonymous
Key is going to be a neighborhood school. So I don’t understand your argument regarding moving Rosslyn and Courthouse kids to Taylor. |
Anonymous
Well- Key is only going to be a neighborhood school if they move immersion elsewhere. Which means a current neighborhood school becoming an option school. Right now that hasn't been decided. I agree that it is likely- but the argument about moving the boundaries around was in response to the statement that 'it would be easier just to draw boundaries than to move schools.' |
Anonymous
Key Immersion is moving — not to Nottingham, though. So drawing boundaries for the new ASFS and Key will be easy. Key will be a very diverse school still. |
Anonymous
What is your source for this statement? Do you intend to make it is a factual statement? Or are you saying it in the spirit of 'the writing is on the wall.' |
Anonymous
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Making Barcroft an immersion school has its own set of issues. Despite proximity to Barrett and Randolph, Barcroft is not "walkable" to these schools. Randolph is across George Mason and the Pike, neither of which can be crossed by young children per APS (esp the Pike). So, low income kids on the south part of the neighborhood who now walk would be bused. Some of those kids currently go to Claremont but APS is wrong if they think all of a sudden all the Spanish speaking kids in that area will suddenly clamor for immersion.
Kids on the north side of the neighborhood would go to Barrett, not Ashlawn, and they would have to take the bus across 50. In the end, a very walkable school would become very bus-dependent - an those buses would be going through very quiet neighborhood streets. Barrett has similar demographics to Barcroft and they would not improve with this move because to accommodate Barcroft kids, UMC families from Barrett would be moved to Ashlawn. Randolph's FR/L% would get even worse and UMC families in Barcroft will avoid that school just like Douglas Park parents do. The UMC transfers out of Barcroft as a neighborhood school would not change with this move. |
Anonymous
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I'm so torn about this whole process.
In hindsight, it became clear that the decision to build Discovery was the wrong one. The resulting boundaries were a mess, caused great inequities in school size and placed 3 neighborhood schools really close to each other. APS should have built at Reed where they plan to now (instead of on the hill) and the schools would have been spread out enough that the boundaries wouldn't have been so weird (I mean, look at McKinley through Tara-Leeway/HP-OK). But, they didn't do that. Now, they need more seats and, instead of just staying with the status quo, they decided to take a look at the whole system. Where would they put neighborhood seats if none were already classified? Key/ASFS kicked this off, but it had been a long time coming.......basically since the Discovery ribbon cutting and the McK/Tuck/Nott boundary debacle. If someone came in and looked at the map with fresh eyes, where would they put an option school? I think that's what they are trying to do. |